A content distribution network (CDN) deploys a large number of servers in geographically distributed areas, content (e.g., web pages, files, email messages, media . . . ) from a content provider can be cached in the deployed servers, so that the content can be delivered efficiently and quickly to end-users in response to a request for data therefrom. Delivery of cached content generally can avoid delays due to slow transport or congested backhaul links at the time of the request, and can prevent overload of the content provider's servers if the number of requests for data is substantive. In a conventional CDN, content is made available to end-users according to the end-users' location within a space of logical addresses, such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, for the mobile device, as well as other factors, such as network load, e.g., cache server's load, or other parameters relevant to the content provider's preferences. The conventional CDN utilizes information on the IP address of a device associated with the end-user, as well as the other parameters to determine a cache server, or CDN node, from which a request for data from an end user is to be served.
When the device from which an end-user requests for data, e.g., content, from the conventional CDN is a mobile device, such as a phone, the request for content is delivered from the mobile phone to a nearby base station of a mobile service provider in the geographical area in which the mobile device operates. From the base station, the request is sent over the service provider's core network to an access network, such as the Internet, through which the request for data is delivered to the conventional CDN. As indicated supra, the CDN determines to which CDN node to send the request for data based primarily on the IP address of the end-user's device, namely, the IP address of the mobile phone. Since such IP address is assigned dynamically when the mobile device initiates a data session, e.g., connects to the internet, substantial signaling is incurred as a result of routing data from the CDN to the mobile device, with the ensuing increase in control traffic and processing at the CDN servers, which thus renders conventional data routing in CDN largely inefficient.